


spring is when you feel like whistling

by colazitron



Series: prompted [3]
Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, Post-Canon, or AU however you want to see it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-30 15:30:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21430504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colazitron/pseuds/colazitron
Summary: Matteo comes to pick David up after his first week of classes at film school.
Relationships: Matteo Florenzi/David (Druck)
Series: prompted [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/629786
Comments: 10
Kudos: 155





	spring is when you feel like whistling

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:** Spacing fic out over time? Don't know her. This is another prompted fic, and I took a bit of liberty and set it at the end of David's first week instead of his first day of classes. I hope you still like it, lavenderbrowns!
> 
> Unbeated, because I have no patience.

Winter has been hard on them.

After the glorious spring and summer they had, Matteo, perhaps foolishly, didn’t think anything could be this hard on them again. And that, he thinks, made it harder. They both allowed themselves to forget what it’s like, when you’re stuck in a place you don’t want to be. How much strength it takes to pull through a situation like that. How nasty the inside of your head can get and how bad it is when all of that nastiness starts turning outwards.

Neither of them are people who turn their feelings on others, not purposely. They’re not easily given to screaming and insults, but their own bad habits - retreating and shutting off until there is no other option but to lash out at someone just to be able to maybe hold on to them too - can be just as ugly.

After David hadn’t gotten into film school, he’d shut down. He’d put on a brave face, pretended he didn’t mind waiting another few months and resubmitting his application for the spring term when there were still spots open, but Matteo had been able to read between the lines of his jokes as easily as if they’d been neon signs.

Matteo knows what it’s like to feel like you failed, even when everyone else, and maybe even your own rational thoughts, are trying to tell you that you didn’t. That kind of self-doubt can eat you alive, and David’s far too much of a perfectionist. So what if the school told him that they’d loved to have had him immediately, but they’d already promised all the spots to other applicants? Surely if his application had just been good enough, then they’d have worked something out?

It’s nonsense, of course, but Matteo knows that kind of thinking intimately. He has years of wondering if maybe, had he just loved his mother a little better, would she have been okay to look back on. Or better, at least. That’s not how depression works, and that’s not a burden a child should have to carry, but it’s still a thing he thought and a thought he’s still learning to undo.

And it didn’t help that Matteo’s gap year, his big year of freedom and finding things he would like to do, very quickly turned into something he felt ashamed of. All of his friends knew what they wanted to do - even Carlos who didn’t get his Abi is happy with his choices. David might not have gotten a place at a film school yet, but Matteo has no doubt that he’s going to get one. And even if he doesn’t, there’s nothing that can stop David from pursuing his passions (except maybe himself). At least he _ has _ a passion.

Matteo doesn’t have anything.

The only thing he feels passionate about is David, his mum, and his friends. But they don’t exactly hand out degrees in that and whenever someone suggests he could go into nursing or something like that, he balks. He’d probably walk over hot coals for the people he cares about, but doing it professionally? Opening himself up to more and more emotional investment like that? He doesn’t think he could handle it.

He’s perused various university catalogues, has googled lists of unlikely jobs, but nothing really… speaks to him. There’s nothing he actually wants to do. And doing nothing got him back into old, bad habits fast, so mid-October he started looking for jobs and finally found one as a dishwasher in a hotel kitchen a few weeks later. He’s the only person native to Germany there and he’s pretty sure that’s the only reason they hired him - so they’re sure someone understands when they bark quick orders into the backroom, leaving Matteo to relay them. Not that it’s usually necessary. There’s really only so many things you can be told in that position and nine out of ten of them boil down to “work faster”.

Matteo kind of hates it and kind of doesn’t hate it at all. It’s work; it gets him out of the house and gives him something to do. Structure. And money, not least of all. It’s not something he wants to do for the rest of his life, but he’s trying to learn to be fine with it being something he’s okay with doing right now.

David’s godmother had invited them up to Fürstenberg for a few days over the holidays, and it had been on that train ride, both of them sullen and cranky and quiet because the holidays are stressful for both of them, that Matteo realised that they didn’t need to take this all out on each other. Weren’t they supposed to help each other? Wasn’t that what relationships were about? Support?

So he’d gotten up to find the trolley of snacks and bought a ridiculously overpriced thing of cookies to share and when he’d come back he’d apologised. David had looked at him with glittery, wounded eyes and then apologised too.

They’ve been better since.

David got back to his film school application, submitted a new film for it and everything, and then found himself a little Saturday job so he didn’t feel quite so much like he was dependent on both Laura and Matteo without anything to show for it. Matteo’s still working that job as a dishwasher, and secretly he thinks he might want to stay in the hospitality business. Not as a dishwasher, but maybe… maybe that’s something he’ll look into. There are always internships in that industry, though the grapevine says most of them are unpaid. It’s at least a place to start looking.

And now it’s March, and spring is just around the corner. The days have gotten noticeably longer again and sometimes the sun even feels warm on Matteo’s cheeks and chin and forehead.

Like right now. It’s early afternoon and David just completed his first week of classes. He’s been excited and stressed all week, almost knocking himself out with the tangle of emotions he carries around with himself.

Matteo worked the breakfast shift today, so he was up and gone before David even woke up this morning, but it also means that he’s had a few hours of free time before David’s classes are over, during which he tidied his room at the flatshare and went grocery shopping. There’s a lasagna chilling in the fridge that they can pop into the oven as soon as they get home as a little surprise for David.

It feels a bit strange, to be on a campus when he’s not a student, but Matteo’s taken a few deep breaths to calm himself back down and now he’s just got his face tilted up towards the sun, waiting for David to show up. Occasionally he blinks his eyes open and over at the main entrance so he doesn’t miss him, but mostly he’s content to wait. He’s pretty sure there’s another five minutes of class time to go.

He doesn’t even have his earphones with him right now, but he doesn’t really feel like he needs them either. It’s actually kind of nice, letting the sounds of the city wash over him, the car traffic, people walking by engaged in conversations that he only ever hears small snippets of. Occasionally there’s actually a bird chirping or cawing somewhere. It feels good to remember how many things are alive around him.

He takes a deep breath, the cold air fresh and crisp, and sighs contently. When he opens his eyes again, he sees David amidst a group of people spilling out of the main building and can’t help the smile that overtakes his face. David is talking and laughing and he looks happy. He looks like ultimately, this week has been good, and he’s maybe finally let go of all the stress it’s been causing him, all the worry about fitting in - both in terms of his skill set and socially.

Matteo watches him dawdle in front of the building, still chatting to his new friends, and lets a few minutes pass by without approaching him. Then David pulls out his phone and seconds later Matteo’s chimes with a text - _ Classes are done. Can’t wait to see you! ❤ - _ so he figures it’s time to say something.

_ I see you, _ he sends back and watches David look up from his phone and around. When David spots him it’s like their eyes catch despite all the distance, despite the fact that Matteo can barely see David’s eyes. But he knows what they look like intimately, knows the way the brown glows with warmth when David’s happy, and his heart trips over itself anyway. He grins, and watches a matching one bloom on David’s face.

David shoves his phone into his backpack and then says something to the others that must be a goodbye, because they all smile, some clapping him on the shoulders, and then he’s making his way over. Matteo straightens up from his slouch against the bare tree he’s leaning on and thinks about meeting David halfway, but then David breaks into a run and Matteo barely has time to get his bearings and open his arms for David to fling himself into.

They stumble a few steps with the force of the collision and Matteo’s laughing, but David just clings to him tightly, letting Matteo spin them around in a circle until they find their footing again.

“Hi,” Matteo says, breathless with giddiness even though David’s the one who’s been running. He wraps his arms more tightly around David when he doesn’t let go, squeezes him firmly until he can feel the solid form of his body underneath all the layers of clothes between them.

David hums happily and squeezes Matteo just a bit more tightly before he lets go enough to put his cold hands on his cheeks and pull him into a kiss. It’s a sweet, chaste kiss, just their lips pressed together and David’s hands almost squeezing at Matteo’s cheeks, holding him so tightly that he can barely keep his lips against David’s. Eventually, it makes him giggle and break the kiss, and David beams at him, seemingly proud of it, and presses their foreheads together.

“Hi,” he says, and then nips at Matteo’s lips in a proper kiss, hands gentle enough to let Matteo reciprocate it this time. “Didn’t know you were coming.”

“I had some time,” Matteo says with a shrug and a teasing smile.

David doesn’t take the bait, just keeps beaming at him.

In the periphery of his vision, Matteo can’t help but notice that the group David’s been standing with earlier are all still there and seemingly turned towards them.

“I think your new friends are staring at us,” he says.

David turns around to look at them and waves at them with a laugh. Some of them wave back, and he’s pretty sure one of the girls is shooting them two thumbs up.

“It’s because I’ve been talking about you all week,” David says when he turns back to Matteo. “They’ve all been very curious about you.”

“Why have you been talking about me?” Matteo asks, bemused.

David shrugs. “Because you’re one of the most important things in my life. It comes up.”

Matteo’s pretty sure his heart melts and leaks into every last corner of his body. He doesn’t even want to know what expression he’s got on his face as he leans forward to kiss David again.

“I love you too,” he mumbles.

It makes David laugh and squeeze him in another hug.

“I’m so happy right now,” David says; quietly, like it’s a secret.

Matteo squeezes him more tightly and grins into his shoulder. _ Good_, he thinks. If it were up to him, David would always be this happy.

“There’s lasagna waiting at home,” he says.

David hums happily.

“You’re amazing,” he says, and lets the hug go slowly. Their hands find each other easily, cold fingers tangling up and then David stuffs them into the pocket of his jacket. It’s not very practical, walking like that, but Matteo huffs a laugh and lets David bump first their shoulders together and then their lips in something like a kiss.

“Well then, let’s go,” he says.

They go.

Winter was hard on them, but spring is just around the corner, and it’s promising all sorts of new life.

**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> Do come say hi [on tumblr](http://fille-lioncelle.tumblr.com) if you want to!


End file.
